Stretchers are often used by emergency personnel to transport injured persons and victims from accident sites to an emergency transport vehicle or a hospital. Such stretchers are also designed in certain circumstances to secure the victim and prevent further injury.
People may become trapped or injured in a confined space or location, such as a basement or shaft. In such instances, ordinary stretchers may not fit within the confined space. For example, when fighting a fire, a fireman may be injured and trapped in a basement. Without the ability to secure the injured fireman on a stretcher, rescuers will tend to pull the fireman out by his or her equipment or clothing. This process often results in the removal of the fireman's equipment before extraction of the fireman from the basement as the equipment is prone to being pulled off during extraction. Moreover, rescuers may exacerbate a trapped fireman's injuries when attempting a rescue without securing the fireman's body before extraction.
Therefore, a present need exists in the field for a stretcher that may be used to efficiently secure and extract a person or victim from a confined space.